The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug Extended Edition Clip Has Bilbo Crossing A Dangerous Swamp

Whenever Peter Jackson is engaged in a cycle of J.R.R. Tolkien films, he rewards his fans in two ways: the first being the actual films that hit the screen, and the second being the extended cuts he puts together for home video release a year later. While Jackson prefers his theatrical cuts, and considers them his "director's cuts," the man still indulges in his inner fanboy and provides the world with the fuller, more book-accurate versions of the films that he makes. This November, we'll be getting the extended cut for The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, which contains about 25 more minutes added back into the film.

Yahoo Movies UK landed access to one of those scenes, which was trimmed from the first act sequence where Bilbo and the dwarves are traveling through Mirkwood. The scene shows Bilbo being used as a guinea pig for the group's safe passage, only for the dwarves to fall prey to the cursed waters of the darkened forest. Fans will remember that similar waters plagued the journey of Frodo, Sam, and Gollum through the Dead Marshes in The Two Towers, as seen below.

Not only is this scene a great callback/foreshadowing to the events of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, but it also highlights what one of the more enjoyable aspects of The Hobbit series has been: its use of humor. The Hobbit is definitely a lighter, less serious affair than The Lord Of The Rings ever was, and it's reflected with the somewhat carefully measured use of one-liners and physical humor. It's a lot of fun to watch, especially with Martin Freeman being a pretty wry practitioner of such humor himself. Something else you'll notice with this clip from The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug is that Peter Jackson is a mad wizard of time dilation. While this clip runs for only about two minutes or so, the scale and action of what's being shot makes it feel like so much more by time the segment is finished, proving that Jackson can do in a minute what other directors try to do in five or more.

We're almost at the end of Hobbit-mania, but, like The Lord Of The Rings before it, fans will have one more year of residual joy to revel in it before saying goodbye to the cinematic Middle-earth for the last time.The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug – Extended Edition will be released on November 4th, making it a perfect staple for your The Hobbit: The Battle Of Five Armies prep party before the sequel's December 17th release.